And Florida, which is barely recovering from the devastation wrought last month by Hurricane Charley, was warily eyeing yet another hurricane, which loomed on the far horizon.

Hurricane Ivan, a dangerous Category 4 storm packing maximum sustained winds of nearly 215 kilometers (135 miles) per hour, was thousands of kilometers away, but long-term forecasts put it dangerously close to the US state by the end of the week.

Late Sunday, Ivan was 1,225 kilometers (760 miles) east-southeast of Barbados, which issued a hurricane watch.

As Ivan headed toward the Caribbean windward islands, Frances lost steam was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm as it crossed Florida, though forecasters said it could regain hurricane strength over the Gulf of Mexico on Monday.

A hurricane warning remained in effect late Sunday in Florida's northwest Gulf coast, and the National Hurricane Center warned that isolated tornadoes could appear in central and northern Florida.

Hundreds of fallen trees, smashed traffic lights and downed power cables littered the ground along much of southeastern Florida, but there were no immediate reports of casualties following Frances' furious overnight onslaught.

And while a few roofs were torn off by the storm, structural damage on the whole appeared to be minor.

The first emergency crews, including national guard members, were deployed to affected areas Sunday morning as the tail of the huge hurricane was still lashing the coast with sheets of rain and fierce gusts of wind.

Power company workers were struggling to restore electricity to over two million people -- some radio stations put the figure as high as four million.

Crews also started removing uprooted trees and smashed traffic lights from the busiest roads, but some streets remained blocked off by debris.

With power lines still dangling on the wet ground, authorities urged residents to wait just a little longer before venturing out.

Not everyone followed that advice, and a number of Floridians who had hunkered down for the storm started venturing out from the homes or shelters.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush was expected to tour the affected area, after President George W. Bush -- his brother -- Bush, declared a "major disaster" in the five worst-hit Florida counties

Before Frances made landfall in Florida Saturday night, it lashed several islands in the Bahamas, where two deaths were reported and where some islands suffered major flooding.

In Miami, life started getting back to normal, with residents returning to their homes from the shelters where they had hunkered down, and the international airport slowly resuming operations.

While fuel shortages still affected parts of the state, a number of gasoline stations reopened on Sunday afternoon, and traffic picked up on the highways.

But on the west coast of Florida, strong winds prompted authorities to shut down the Tampa International and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International airports.

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